GP Camp, Shrewsbury.

Ahh sad to be home, although nice to make a cuppa so easily, and have warm dry feet!

So, we left Saturday morning, not quite so bright and early as I wished.  The "quick" supermarket trip ended up taking an  hour because it was so busy!   That's ok, I thought, we'll be there about half one instead of twelve.  Hmm, forgot about bank holiday traffic.  Joined the M25 and the traffic was snarled; and it was pretty much like that most of the way to Shrewsbury.  A 3.45hrs journey took over 5 hours.

So anyway, we finally arrived at camp, I think Rye and me were the last to arrive.  Never mind, I got the tent up, had a wee bit of help with the tarp, which I totally cocked up and had a maze of guy ropes to manover through to get into the teepee.  Adds to the adventure :-)

Rye quickly made friends, and took a particular shine to Charlie, very sweet watching them playing together.  And later he and Pheebs played lovely too... and then this afternoon, he and Saule were just adorable.  Saule chasing Rye and giggling as Rye threw himself onto the grass, and Saule would then copy him.  Martin entertained the children for a wee while, as trips to the train station were made, and again they were adorable, playing hide and seek, and the little ones chasing after the bigger children.  Gawd it was brilliant!  But I'm getting ahead of myself.

 A very happy boy to be camping :D

Alas later in the afternoon it began to rain, and it didn't stop for 24hrs, ooh it was a bit miserable and cold.  We all feared we'd be rained out, as we were all talking of maybe leaving Monday if it kept raining.    The rain didn't stop us going to see Wroexter Roman City though.

 This was inside the museum, very small but very interesting.

 The ruins.

 The roman villa created entirely from roman methods, it was amazing!

 Yup, we were soaked!

 The marquee saved the camp!  Despite the rubbish rain, we were able to be together, sharing food, chatting, the children playing happily.  Nearly kissed the fella that brought a wood burner to warm the marquee up.. although, we had a bit of trouble getting it going.

 Monday, yay!  The sun appeared, and gosh it was hot!  The kids made me a birthday banner :D

 And drew me a beautitful picture with lots of witches on it :D

 Sarie also worked on my dreads for me, tightening them up, and getting the back ones started so I can easily finish them off.  It was rather addictive, I was mostly seen sat with a tiny crochet hook playing with my dreads. :D

Birthday cake!   LOL and yes I'm wiping away tears.  The children all stood together and sang happy birthday to me.  Bless Jenna, she was determined I was going to have a "proper" birthday :D  They even put on a play for me.

Rye sporting the new rainbow playsilk that Sarah dyed for me :D  Here he's been a prince.

The children racing around the field after, um, Russ, I think. 

Laura made a gorgeous vegetable curry that we had with jacket potato and naan bread, and then I made fruit kebabs and broke out the maize tortillas and dips :D  Yum.  Loved that many of our meals ended up being a shared affair.  It was great.  And that evening we sat around the fire chatting, watching the most amazing orange full moon rise. 

So despite the rain, we had a fabulous time and was again sad to see our friends leave on the last day.
Big thank yous to Clare and Chris for organising, and I think Jenna deserves a special thank you too for helping to make my birthday such a special day.

Thank you, dear friends, I had a wonderful time.
Rye is already asking when we will see everyone again!